Say This, Not That: A Guide to Navigating Uncomfortable Conversations About Teaching

Overview

When I’m at social gatherings, I often meet non-teachers who ask me questions about teaching. The vast majority of these people are kind and gracious. They’ll tell me about a teacher they had that impacted them positively, or will ask my opinion on thoughtful questions about education. But occasionally, I’ll get someone who is walking around lugging this giant anti-teaching axe to grind. He/she will say something either completely rude or just passive-aggressively rude about teaching, and I have to take a moment in my head to sort through what kind of response I’d like to give that individual. Here are five such comments from we are teachers